I'm in Billings, Montana this week. Didn't contact any players in Montana, since I wasn't sure of my schedule, and knew I'd be pretty busy both preparing for my meeting, and also networking with coworkers. It stays light out here until 9 pm, which is crazy. I didn't realize how far North it is here. I've managed to get in a couple good footbag sessions and filmed them, but without my personal laptop, I can't edit any footage yet. Expect a video this weekend when I get back.
Last Sunday we had two special guests show up to our net session: Randy Dix (former US takraw team member) and Allen Petersen (former net world champ). We got to play doubles, and they were both amazing. Unfortunately, I had a terrible session. At one point, teams I played on were 0-7. It was straight up not fun at all. I decided I'm not going to play net until I get back from Euros. Every time I play net, my legs are out of it for a few days. It also takes up time I could be using to practice freestyle and get in better game shape for Euros. With only 3 weeks remaining before I go, I can't afford to waste time and risk injury with net, when I have a decent chance of doing well at Euros. It didn't help that net went so badly last time either. I'm hoping though that Allen and Randy come back sometime after Euros, I play better, and I improve in net under their tutelage.
I made a video of my last session before leaving for Montana. Messing around with blurry flux the session before that got me thinking about moves with that quick, awkward illusion in them. It made me realize that I never do grifters, and certainly had never filmed any in HD before. That was all the excuse I needed to dedicate an entire session to working on grifters and flux tricks. Only a few of these tricks/links are new for me, but in most cases I hadn't hit them in so many years, almost everything felt new:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5G-iuPyV8[/youtube]
Fanzine
Euros is looming on the horizon, and I’m starting to get a bit nervous about it. I’ve been playing a lot of freestyle lately, and I feel I’ve been playing well, both which should help me. That said, I really need to get serious with my training if I want to do well. Based off the online registration, there aren’t that many big names competing this year, but a few stand out and make me worried. I’d really like to medal in routines, and winning them at Euros would be a dream. I’ll need a combination of luck and intense training to have that happen, but I don’t think it’s impossible by any means.
After my disastrous net session last week, I decided to put net on hold until I get back from Europe. No reason to risk injury (and I still consistently get net legs when I play), and with limited time to prepare for freestyle, I can’t afford to spend time and energy on net. So that freed up some time this weekend, which I put to good use. The other big thing I did to prepare for Euros, was I swapped out my mismatched G-Units for the new pair I used at Green Cup. The mismatched pair are super comfortable, but the tread on the soles leaves a bit to be desired. It sounds like Euros will be inside a gym, so I’m going to want a pair with grippy tread. By making the switch now, I hope to break in the new pair, or at least get familiar enough with them that I’ll be confident while competing.
I’ve also started doing routine practice. At Green Cup I used a different song each day, and I liked that element of surprise for the audience and judges in Finals. After my routine run throughs this weekend though, I seriously question whether I’ll be able to get two solid routines prepared. Instead, I think I may focus on getting my finals routine solid, and just sketch out the outline of a second routine. Who knows, I may just do the same routine twice. It’s weird though, cause based on the current schedule for Euros, routine qualifiers happens the same day as routine finals. That’s bizarre. I think my biggest task before Euros will simply be to get in as good shape as possible, since the schedule looks particularly brutal for an older competitor such as myself.
Over the weekend I also put together a video from my shreds in Montana last week. I had a ton of footage, but once I picked my song and saw how well it meshed with the establishing shots, I decided to make a shorter video that was higher quality in terms of shred and edit. I was very happy with how it turned out:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=bv6io_d3wy8[/youtube]
Lately I’ve been having fun pushing my fearless links. My record is 10 unique, but that was close to 4 years ago. I’ve hit several 8 and 9 links since then, but it’d be nice to hit 10 again, or even try and break that. I’m not going to spend much time on that before Euros, but it’ll be a goal for me this summer.
After my disastrous net session last week, I decided to put net on hold until I get back from Europe. No reason to risk injury (and I still consistently get net legs when I play), and with limited time to prepare for freestyle, I can’t afford to spend time and energy on net. So that freed up some time this weekend, which I put to good use. The other big thing I did to prepare for Euros, was I swapped out my mismatched G-Units for the new pair I used at Green Cup. The mismatched pair are super comfortable, but the tread on the soles leaves a bit to be desired. It sounds like Euros will be inside a gym, so I’m going to want a pair with grippy tread. By making the switch now, I hope to break in the new pair, or at least get familiar enough with them that I’ll be confident while competing.
I’ve also started doing routine practice. At Green Cup I used a different song each day, and I liked that element of surprise for the audience and judges in Finals. After my routine run throughs this weekend though, I seriously question whether I’ll be able to get two solid routines prepared. Instead, I think I may focus on getting my finals routine solid, and just sketch out the outline of a second routine. Who knows, I may just do the same routine twice. It’s weird though, cause based on the current schedule for Euros, routine qualifiers happens the same day as routine finals. That’s bizarre. I think my biggest task before Euros will simply be to get in as good shape as possible, since the schedule looks particularly brutal for an older competitor such as myself.
Over the weekend I also put together a video from my shreds in Montana last week. I had a ton of footage, but once I picked my song and saw how well it meshed with the establishing shots, I decided to make a shorter video that was higher quality in terms of shred and edit. I was very happy with how it turned out:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=bv6io_d3wy8[/youtube]
Lately I’ve been having fun pushing my fearless links. My record is 10 unique, but that was close to 4 years ago. I’ve hit several 8 and 9 links since then, but it’d be nice to hit 10 again, or even try and break that. I’m not going to spend much time on that before Euros, but it’ll be a goal for me this summer.
Last edited by C-Fan on 02 Nov 2016 12:22, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks Radek. I’d never hit grifter b2b before that session, so I was stoked to get it both directions.
Nothing too exciting to report footbagwise, since I’ve been in training for Euros. Breaking in my new G-Units has been surprisingly slow. I can’t remember any of my past pairs taking this long to break in, but these are just really stiff. Maybe it’s because the shoes were made so long ago, the leather got less pliable over time. I’m still planning on taking this pair to Euros though, since I think grippy tread will be a better tradeoff over more responsive shoes. We’ll see.
I was seriously hoping to change my flight to Spain so I could arrive 4 days earlier, but now it looks like work probably won’t let me. Right now I’m scheduled to arrive Friday morning. I might be able to make it to the site in time to compete in circle, but even if I do, I doubt I’ll do too well after flying across the US, then across the ocean, and sleeping on a plane. If I have to scratch from those events, so be it. I really just want to do well in routines, which happen Saturday. I’m definitely a bit nervous about how jet lag will affect me, not to mention that first round is at noon…and then Finals are 6 hours later on the same day. If by some minor miracle I’m able to fly in 4 days early, I’d be able to compete in everything, and not worry about the jet lag.
No shred highlights to report, since I’ve been focusing my sessions on improving my two routines. I’ve decided to prepare two routines, since I think it’s better strategy, and more fun for the audience/judges too. It’s tough keeping it all straight in your head, but really what’s killing me now is the stamina required. I may have to compromise the ideal routine in my head, in order to do a routine my body can handle.
Here’s a fearless combo I hit last week. If the set off the spinning whirl were an inch lower, or I was more aware of my set, I know I could have turned the seal into pdx torque instead of pdx mirage:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7XB0Yx3lk[/youtube]
Regardless of what happens with my travel situation, I’m just going to keep preparing my routines. Worst case scenario, I bomb them both in competition because I’m fatigued. Even then, all this work will hopefully pay off when I go to USO later in the summer.
Nothing too exciting to report footbagwise, since I’ve been in training for Euros. Breaking in my new G-Units has been surprisingly slow. I can’t remember any of my past pairs taking this long to break in, but these are just really stiff. Maybe it’s because the shoes were made so long ago, the leather got less pliable over time. I’m still planning on taking this pair to Euros though, since I think grippy tread will be a better tradeoff over more responsive shoes. We’ll see.
I was seriously hoping to change my flight to Spain so I could arrive 4 days earlier, but now it looks like work probably won’t let me. Right now I’m scheduled to arrive Friday morning. I might be able to make it to the site in time to compete in circle, but even if I do, I doubt I’ll do too well after flying across the US, then across the ocean, and sleeping on a plane. If I have to scratch from those events, so be it. I really just want to do well in routines, which happen Saturday. I’m definitely a bit nervous about how jet lag will affect me, not to mention that first round is at noon…and then Finals are 6 hours later on the same day. If by some minor miracle I’m able to fly in 4 days early, I’d be able to compete in everything, and not worry about the jet lag.
No shred highlights to report, since I’ve been focusing my sessions on improving my two routines. I’ve decided to prepare two routines, since I think it’s better strategy, and more fun for the audience/judges too. It’s tough keeping it all straight in your head, but really what’s killing me now is the stamina required. I may have to compromise the ideal routine in my head, in order to do a routine my body can handle.
Here’s a fearless combo I hit last week. If the set off the spinning whirl were an inch lower, or I was more aware of my set, I know I could have turned the seal into pdx torque instead of pdx mirage:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7XB0Yx3lk[/youtube]
Regardless of what happens with my travel situation, I’m just going to keep preparing my routines. Worst case scenario, I bomb them both in competition because I’m fatigued. Even then, all this work will hopefully pay off when I go to USO later in the summer.
Last edited by C-Fan on 16 Apr 2013 12:57, edited 1 time in total.
One week from now Euros will be over. I'm nervous and excited for it at the same time. I half wish I were competing tomorrow already, because I feel prepared for my routines. Now I just need to pray jet lag doesn't affect me too badly, and that my routines go according to plan.
I'm pretty excited about my final routine, to the point that I've almost exclusively been working on it. This morning I had the horrifying thought: "what if I don't make finals, because I'm not prepping my qualifiers routine enough?" It wouldn't do me any good to have a killer finals routine if I don't even get that far. So today I worked on both routines, and they both feel very good.
Yesterday I got in two sessions. It was hot even when the sun was going down, so I had to play in the shade. Since it was my second session of the day, and my first runthrough of my routine went very well, I rewarded myself by just having a fun session. I got reacquainted with spike hammer, and I also did a little nuke/atomic practice, since those concepts are getting rusty.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsflLc-zZVM[/youtube]
I walked around a lot yesterday, which combined with 2 sessions somehow aggravated my left knee. I don't think I ever fully healed from Green Cup, and this was a reminder I need to be careful and not push too hard. The knee doesn't hurt per se, but it feels tired and weak. I managed to play fine today once i was warm, but it's something to keep an eye on. Depending how Euros go, I may take a week off from playing before getting back to USO training.
Three more days to practice, then I fly out Thursday. I'm in transit all day Thursday, so after Wednesday I'm not gonna get a chance to play until Friday, when I may be competing in circle (depending if i get to the site on time).
I'm pretty excited about my final routine, to the point that I've almost exclusively been working on it. This morning I had the horrifying thought: "what if I don't make finals, because I'm not prepping my qualifiers routine enough?" It wouldn't do me any good to have a killer finals routine if I don't even get that far. So today I worked on both routines, and they both feel very good.
Yesterday I got in two sessions. It was hot even when the sun was going down, so I had to play in the shade. Since it was my second session of the day, and my first runthrough of my routine went very well, I rewarded myself by just having a fun session. I got reacquainted with spike hammer, and I also did a little nuke/atomic practice, since those concepts are getting rusty.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsflLc-zZVM[/youtube]
I walked around a lot yesterday, which combined with 2 sessions somehow aggravated my left knee. I don't think I ever fully healed from Green Cup, and this was a reminder I need to be careful and not push too hard. The knee doesn't hurt per se, but it feels tired and weak. I managed to play fine today once i was warm, but it's something to keep an eye on. Depending how Euros go, I may take a week off from playing before getting back to USO training.
Three more days to practice, then I fly out Thursday. I'm in transit all day Thursday, so after Wednesday I'm not gonna get a chance to play until Friday, when I may be competing in circle (depending if i get to the site on time).
Last edited by C-Fan on 16 Apr 2013 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
Knee is feeling better, which is a relief. I think my body was just getting my attention as if to say: “hey, don’t push this knee too hard, or I’ll really make you regret it.” Now that I’ve taken the warning seriously, it’s like my body is backing off a little. I’ve laid off symposium/double dexes/twitchy dexes on that leg, and it’s responded nicely. Still, I may want to take some time off between Euros and USO to let it heal up some more.
Training for Euros continues to go well. I went on an Independence Day bender on July 3rd, but haven’t drunk any alcohol since, and have been good about getting sleep, and playing footbag everyday. Training routines is tricky. On one hand, I want to exclusively work on sections of the routine, but that doesn’t do much for my stamina. On the other hand, if I try and work my stamina by just playing for fun, I’m afraid I’ll lose focus. So there’s a balance in the middle I try to strike. The other thing that’s tricky to balance with a routine, is how close you stick to the plan. If you map out every move in a routine, it’ll throw you off if you miss one or mess up somewhere. On the other hand, if you improvise too many sections, it’s easy to mess up your energy/breathing management, which leaves you tired at the end of the routine. My two best dropless routines represent opposite ends of this spectrum. Ultimately I think I’m going to try and stick to the plan, but not stress out too much if I have to deviate from it.
Here’s a short vid of my last outdoor session. I think the first fearless combo is new for me, and I was stoked about it:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRjJvbgdI5k[/youtube]
24 hours from now I get on a plane and start my trip. I definitely feel a little nervous, but I’m also really excited. I just hope my body deals with the flights and time change well, and gives me a chance to give it my best shot. I'm getting in one more training session today, but I'm gonna try and keep it light. Maybe only do a couple run throughs of the routines, or even just do sections. The last bit of preparation I'm doing for Euros is growing out a playoff beard. I dunno, it just seemed like a very European thing to do.
I don’t know how my internet access will be on the trip, so it may be a while before I post here again.
Wish me luck!
Training for Euros continues to go well. I went on an Independence Day bender on July 3rd, but haven’t drunk any alcohol since, and have been good about getting sleep, and playing footbag everyday. Training routines is tricky. On one hand, I want to exclusively work on sections of the routine, but that doesn’t do much for my stamina. On the other hand, if I try and work my stamina by just playing for fun, I’m afraid I’ll lose focus. So there’s a balance in the middle I try to strike. The other thing that’s tricky to balance with a routine, is how close you stick to the plan. If you map out every move in a routine, it’ll throw you off if you miss one or mess up somewhere. On the other hand, if you improvise too many sections, it’s easy to mess up your energy/breathing management, which leaves you tired at the end of the routine. My two best dropless routines represent opposite ends of this spectrum. Ultimately I think I’m going to try and stick to the plan, but not stress out too much if I have to deviate from it.
Here’s a short vid of my last outdoor session. I think the first fearless combo is new for me, and I was stoked about it:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRjJvbgdI5k[/youtube]
24 hours from now I get on a plane and start my trip. I definitely feel a little nervous, but I’m also really excited. I just hope my body deals with the flights and time change well, and gives me a chance to give it my best shot. I'm getting in one more training session today, but I'm gonna try and keep it light. Maybe only do a couple run throughs of the routines, or even just do sections. The last bit of preparation I'm doing for Euros is growing out a playoff beard. I dunno, it just seemed like a very European thing to do.
I don’t know how my internet access will be on the trip, so it may be a while before I post here again.
Wish me luck!
Last edited by C-Fan on 16 Apr 2013 13:01, edited 1 time in total.
No Kidding, I saw those results and said... WHAAAAAT!?!?!?!
You're a high rated player... and yet UNDER rated!
Sick.
I sure hope there will be vids.
EDIT: I wanted to sound at least a little educated. Lots of fails. I've been ill.
You're a high rated player... and yet UNDER rated!
Sick.
I sure hope there will be vids.
EDIT: I wanted to sound at least a little educated. Lots of fails. I've been ill.
Last edited by The Rhino on 11 Jul 2011 16:02, edited 1 time in total.
-
PoisonTaffy
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: 23 Jun 2007 15:42
- Location: Israel, center
- Contact:
Thanks for all the nice comments everybody! It was a very pleasant surprise to open up the blog and see them, especially since I'd been offline for a while and just assumed the 'zine would be on page 2. If I had any doubt in my mind about whether or not to do a write up, your comments resolved that. I’ll try and get started on it this weekend.
While I’m here, a few quick updates:
• I hurt my left knee in late May while playing net. I rushed the recovery because of Green Cup, and then because of Euros. I’ve avoided most symposium on that leg as well as some twisty motions with that leg, but it never really healed. At Euros I definitely pushed it more than I should have, and it’s feeling cranky again. It never hurt, and it still doesn’t, but it feels tired and weak. Had I won Euros or gone dropless there, I’d happily take some time off before USO to let it rest. Since I didn’t achieve either of those goals, my new goal is to try and win USO or go dropless. Because of that, I’ll likely only take off a week before I get back to training my routine and my stamina for USO. But once USO is over, I may force myself to take off more time to help the knee.
• The knee issue is a bummer, because I feel really pumped about footbag lately. My interest goes through peaks and valleys like anybody else, so it always sucks when you get injured when your interest in playing is at a high point. Maybe I can catch up on some video backlog.
• I didn’t get a ton of footage from Euros, but I’ll try and make a video of what I do have. I got a bunch of routines on film (Vasek and Tina’s were amazing), including my own, but I’m not going to post my routine until after USO. I decided I liked my finals routine from Euros enough that I’m going to use it as my finals routine at USO as well, so in the interest of keeping it fresh for that audience I’m not posting it online yet.
• I got in one solo shred in Spain after Euros. I wasn’t thrilled with the playing surface, or with one lady’s dog who tried to eat my footbag and then knocked over my camera, but it was nice to play without worrying about competition. It was also my first session in my new planetfootbag shirt. Minimal editing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nUH1p812-8[/youtube]
While I’m here, a few quick updates:
• I hurt my left knee in late May while playing net. I rushed the recovery because of Green Cup, and then because of Euros. I’ve avoided most symposium on that leg as well as some twisty motions with that leg, but it never really healed. At Euros I definitely pushed it more than I should have, and it’s feeling cranky again. It never hurt, and it still doesn’t, but it feels tired and weak. Had I won Euros or gone dropless there, I’d happily take some time off before USO to let it rest. Since I didn’t achieve either of those goals, my new goal is to try and win USO or go dropless. Because of that, I’ll likely only take off a week before I get back to training my routine and my stamina for USO. But once USO is over, I may force myself to take off more time to help the knee.
• The knee issue is a bummer, because I feel really pumped about footbag lately. My interest goes through peaks and valleys like anybody else, so it always sucks when you get injured when your interest in playing is at a high point. Maybe I can catch up on some video backlog.
• I didn’t get a ton of footage from Euros, but I’ll try and make a video of what I do have. I got a bunch of routines on film (Vasek and Tina’s were amazing), including my own, but I’m not going to post my routine until after USO. I decided I liked my finals routine from Euros enough that I’m going to use it as my finals routine at USO as well, so in the interest of keeping it fresh for that audience I’m not posting it online yet.
• I got in one solo shred in Spain after Euros. I wasn’t thrilled with the playing surface, or with one lady’s dog who tried to eat my footbag and then knocked over my camera, but it was nice to play without worrying about competition. It was also my first session in my new planetfootbag shirt. Minimal editing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nUH1p812-8[/youtube]
Last edited by C-Fan on 16 Apr 2013 13:21, edited 1 time in total.
I’ve taken a full week off of freestyle in order to rest my knee. It feels roughly the same, but I’m hoping the time off is having some positive effect. On one hand I love that I’ve been going to tournaments so frequently over the last 7 months (NYJ, Vegas Jam, Green Cup, Euros, and USO), but on the other hand the pace of events has made it hard for my knee to recover. I got hurt right before Green Cup, pushed it at Green Cup, then pushed it at Euros. With only 4 weeks between Euros and USO, I don’t feel comfortable taking more than one week off, even though ideally I’d like 2 or 3 to recover.
With no footbag or basketball for the last week, I have a lot more time on my hands. I’m itching to play, but I’m trying to channel that time/desire to get some other projects done. I’ve made a few videos, and today I’m going to start my Euros writeup. Once I start playing again, I don’t anticipate filming much shred, since I’m planning on really working on my routines for USO. I was satisfied with my routine at Euros, but I know it could be so much better, especially if I cut out some avoidable drops. The competition at USO looks pretty tough already, but my goal still is to finish top 3 in routines. I’d also like to go dropless. I guess I’d be satisfied with either outcome. It would be cool though to be able to say I finished podium at Euros and USO in the same year, especially since I’m missing Worlds this time around.
Euros 2011 Report Card.
Logistics/Planning: F
Other than Steve Goldberg, I’d say I travel more frequently than the vast majority of footbaggers. So you’d think I’d be decent at planning out trips by this point, but as it turns out, I did a horrible horrible job with logistics for Euros. Where to start. I bought tickets for Euros several months in advance, which was smart. Looking at the calendar though, I fixated on the dates as July 9th and 10th. When I looked at flights, I realized that I’d lose a day in transit, since I was flying from the West of the US. Because of this, I didn’t want to fly out on Friday, since that’d mean I’d arrive at the competition site at noon on Saturday. So instead, I decided to buy tickets for Thursday. What I didn’t realize, was that Monday of that week was already a federal holiday (July 4th), so if I was going to bother to take off Thursday and Friday, I might as well have taken off two more days, and then bridged the entire week. D’oh! By the time I realized this, my boss wouldn’t let me take the extra time off. This was especially disheartening, since the schedule of events had changed since I bought my tickets, and now there were freestyle events on Friday.
This meant I would have to compete in Circle and Shred 30 right off of the plane.
Logistical disaster #2 was my passport. I couldn’t find it for a week, and when I did finally find it (6 days before my flight), it was expired! Passports last 10 years, and mine expired less than 5 weeks before my trip. Horrible timing. Thanks to the aforementioned July 4th holiday, I only had 4 business days to get a new passport before my flight. Thankfully I was able to, and the expedite fee was only $60, but still. Stressful.
My third logistical mistake in preparation for the tournament, was money. The second part of my Spain trip was visiting my parents, so I didn’t need money for that part of the trip. I figured I’d only be in Madrid for 2.5 days, so I wouldn’t need that much cash. On top of that, Matthias Lino Schmidt asked me to bring him a pair of Lavers, so I was counting on getting cash for them once I arrived. I therefore only brought $150 in cash with me, and brought my credit card as a backup. The people at my bank assured me I’d be able to use it without problems, since I filled out a form letting them know there might be activity on it from Spain during that time period. How did things actually play out? I changed $100 USD at the bank for Euros, and didn’t get a great rate (I had asked my bank in the US for help, and they don’t do that). Once I got to Madrid, I decided to take a cab to the event site, instead of the metro. Google Maps had told me the metro ride involved two transfers, and took 70 minutes. By car, 18 minutes. Since I’m unfamiliar with the Madrid metro and I had to compete within 90 minutes of getting my luggage from baggage claim, I opted for the taxi. This ate up about 60% of the Euros I had. I wasn’t worried yet though, since I had my credit card as backup, as well as $50 USD cash, and the cash I’d get for Matthias’ lavers. When I got to the site, I ran into Max Kerkhoff, and asked him if he came with Matthias.
Max: Oh no, Matthias missed his flight.
Me:
Is he coming on a later flight?
Max: Doubtful. He’d have to pay for a new ticket for $300 Euros to come now.
So instead of having cash, I had a pair of brand new size 12 lavers on me. Not great, but I still wasn’t freaking out. After I got dinner that night, I only had something like 10 euros left (plus my $50 USD in cash). When we went out, I tried to buy a metro pass with my credit card. After I inserted it, it asked me for my 4 digit pin. Whhhhat? In the US, you need a pin for your debit card, but not for your credit card. I later asked at a few restaurants if they’d accept my card with my signature, and was told that if your card doesn’t have this weird chip in it, you have to know your 4 digit code. Man, it would have been great if my bank had told me that.
The Berlin crew ended up bailing me out the next day by giving me Euros for Matthias’ lavers, and delivering them to him. But yeah, the first day I was in Spain I was starting to get worried about my set up.
My last logistical problem was mostly out of my control. I had to get to northern Spain on Sunday night, since my niece was getting baptized there on Monday morning. So I had to get the latest flight out of Madrid that night. Unfortunately, all the events on Sunday got a late start, so in order to make it to the airport on time, I barely had time to do Sick 3, had to skip Sick One, and missed the net finals and the medal ceremony.
Flight to Spain: A-
My flights to get to Spain went well. Amazingly, I had an empty seat next to me on both legs of the flight! This meant that I could sleep in fetal position on the overnight flight from the US to Spain. It wasn’t comfortable, and I only slept four fitful hours, but it was likely better than having to sleep upright in my seat. The only reason this is an A- and not an A, is that I was arriving in Madrid on Friday at 10 am, and comp was scheduled to start at noon. If the competition schedule hadn’t changed after I bought my tickets, or my boss had let me fly out earlier, I wouldn’t have worried as much about my sleep. But overall I felt lucky to sleep on the flight.
Arrival at site: B+
I got my bag from baggage claim relatively quickly, and the cab ride to the site was pleasant enough, even if it was expensive. I think it was the right move to cab it, just because I didn’t want to waste too much time on the metros and stress out about making it there at all. When I get in the site I see a bunch of old familiar faces, which immediately takes off some of the edge. I’m told there are coin lockers inside where I can store my bags, which I end up using for the entire trip. That was one of the best moves of the weekend. I take out my shred gear, then go up to the bleachers where a few freestylers are watching some net. Much to my surprise, I see Vasek sitting there! I go up and say hi, and ask him if he’s competing. He nods, and I feel a sense of resignation wash over me. I have to admit I was excited at the prospect of maybe winning routines, and then being able to say that I was once European champion. While I was confident in my routine, I knew the chances of Vasek screwing up enough to give me an opening to beat him were slim to none. That said, his arrival was sure to improve the level of play, which is good for the tournament, and I still had the chance to do my routine in comp for the first time, and see how it went.
Next: Circle Comp and Shred 30
With no footbag or basketball for the last week, I have a lot more time on my hands. I’m itching to play, but I’m trying to channel that time/desire to get some other projects done. I’ve made a few videos, and today I’m going to start my Euros writeup. Once I start playing again, I don’t anticipate filming much shred, since I’m planning on really working on my routines for USO. I was satisfied with my routine at Euros, but I know it could be so much better, especially if I cut out some avoidable drops. The competition at USO looks pretty tough already, but my goal still is to finish top 3 in routines. I’d also like to go dropless. I guess I’d be satisfied with either outcome. It would be cool though to be able to say I finished podium at Euros and USO in the same year, especially since I’m missing Worlds this time around.
Euros 2011 Report Card.
Logistics/Planning: F
Other than Steve Goldberg, I’d say I travel more frequently than the vast majority of footbaggers. So you’d think I’d be decent at planning out trips by this point, but as it turns out, I did a horrible horrible job with logistics for Euros. Where to start. I bought tickets for Euros several months in advance, which was smart. Looking at the calendar though, I fixated on the dates as July 9th and 10th. When I looked at flights, I realized that I’d lose a day in transit, since I was flying from the West of the US. Because of this, I didn’t want to fly out on Friday, since that’d mean I’d arrive at the competition site at noon on Saturday. So instead, I decided to buy tickets for Thursday. What I didn’t realize, was that Monday of that week was already a federal holiday (July 4th), so if I was going to bother to take off Thursday and Friday, I might as well have taken off two more days, and then bridged the entire week. D’oh! By the time I realized this, my boss wouldn’t let me take the extra time off. This was especially disheartening, since the schedule of events had changed since I bought my tickets, and now there were freestyle events on Friday.
This meant I would have to compete in Circle and Shred 30 right off of the plane. Logistical disaster #2 was my passport. I couldn’t find it for a week, and when I did finally find it (6 days before my flight), it was expired! Passports last 10 years, and mine expired less than 5 weeks before my trip. Horrible timing. Thanks to the aforementioned July 4th holiday, I only had 4 business days to get a new passport before my flight. Thankfully I was able to, and the expedite fee was only $60, but still. Stressful.
My third logistical mistake in preparation for the tournament, was money. The second part of my Spain trip was visiting my parents, so I didn’t need money for that part of the trip. I figured I’d only be in Madrid for 2.5 days, so I wouldn’t need that much cash. On top of that, Matthias Lino Schmidt asked me to bring him a pair of Lavers, so I was counting on getting cash for them once I arrived. I therefore only brought $150 in cash with me, and brought my credit card as a backup. The people at my bank assured me I’d be able to use it without problems, since I filled out a form letting them know there might be activity on it from Spain during that time period. How did things actually play out? I changed $100 USD at the bank for Euros, and didn’t get a great rate (I had asked my bank in the US for help, and they don’t do that). Once I got to Madrid, I decided to take a cab to the event site, instead of the metro. Google Maps had told me the metro ride involved two transfers, and took 70 minutes. By car, 18 minutes. Since I’m unfamiliar with the Madrid metro and I had to compete within 90 minutes of getting my luggage from baggage claim, I opted for the taxi. This ate up about 60% of the Euros I had. I wasn’t worried yet though, since I had my credit card as backup, as well as $50 USD cash, and the cash I’d get for Matthias’ lavers. When I got to the site, I ran into Max Kerkhoff, and asked him if he came with Matthias.
Max: Oh no, Matthias missed his flight.
Me:
Is he coming on a later flight?Max: Doubtful. He’d have to pay for a new ticket for $300 Euros to come now.
So instead of having cash, I had a pair of brand new size 12 lavers on me. Not great, but I still wasn’t freaking out. After I got dinner that night, I only had something like 10 euros left (plus my $50 USD in cash). When we went out, I tried to buy a metro pass with my credit card. After I inserted it, it asked me for my 4 digit pin. Whhhhat? In the US, you need a pin for your debit card, but not for your credit card. I later asked at a few restaurants if they’d accept my card with my signature, and was told that if your card doesn’t have this weird chip in it, you have to know your 4 digit code. Man, it would have been great if my bank had told me that.
The Berlin crew ended up bailing me out the next day by giving me Euros for Matthias’ lavers, and delivering them to him. But yeah, the first day I was in Spain I was starting to get worried about my set up.My last logistical problem was mostly out of my control. I had to get to northern Spain on Sunday night, since my niece was getting baptized there on Monday morning. So I had to get the latest flight out of Madrid that night. Unfortunately, all the events on Sunday got a late start, so in order to make it to the airport on time, I barely had time to do Sick 3, had to skip Sick One, and missed the net finals and the medal ceremony.
Flight to Spain: A-
My flights to get to Spain went well. Amazingly, I had an empty seat next to me on both legs of the flight! This meant that I could sleep in fetal position on the overnight flight from the US to Spain. It wasn’t comfortable, and I only slept four fitful hours, but it was likely better than having to sleep upright in my seat. The only reason this is an A- and not an A, is that I was arriving in Madrid on Friday at 10 am, and comp was scheduled to start at noon. If the competition schedule hadn’t changed after I bought my tickets, or my boss had let me fly out earlier, I wouldn’t have worried as much about my sleep. But overall I felt lucky to sleep on the flight.
Arrival at site: B+
I got my bag from baggage claim relatively quickly, and the cab ride to the site was pleasant enough, even if it was expensive. I think it was the right move to cab it, just because I didn’t want to waste too much time on the metros and stress out about making it there at all. When I get in the site I see a bunch of old familiar faces, which immediately takes off some of the edge. I’m told there are coin lockers inside where I can store my bags, which I end up using for the entire trip. That was one of the best moves of the weekend. I take out my shred gear, then go up to the bleachers where a few freestylers are watching some net. Much to my surprise, I see Vasek sitting there! I go up and say hi, and ask him if he’s competing. He nods, and I feel a sense of resignation wash over me. I have to admit I was excited at the prospect of maybe winning routines, and then being able to say that I was once European champion. While I was confident in my routine, I knew the chances of Vasek screwing up enough to give me an opening to beat him were slim to none. That said, his arrival was sure to improve the level of play, which is good for the tournament, and I still had the chance to do my routine in comp for the first time, and see how it went.
Next: Circle Comp and Shred 30
Circle Qualifiers: A+ for effort, A- for performance.
The first event of the day was Circle Comp. I was in the last pool, which was nice since it gave me more time to warm up. Since I was in the last pool, I agreed to judge the first two rounds. I judged with Kamil Wysocki and Steve Goldberg, and it was fun. The most entertaining pool had Rafal and Tuomas, and all three judges had them very close. Rafal ended up advancing from that pool. After spending most of the previous day and night in transit, it was a joy to sit down and watch footbag.
After I finished judging the second round, I got changed and started warming up. I don’t think I ever really got jet-lagged, but the fact that I spent the previous night only getting 4 on and off hours of sleep on an airplane, meant I wasn’t feeling all that spry. I was hoping adrenaline would kick in and help me, but as I started warming up, I got a little nervous. My legs just felt very heavy and unresponsive, and they didn’t seem to be getting any better as I warmed up. My pool in the first round was with Alex Trenner and Rene Ruhr. I knew Alex and his game, but Rene was an x-factor. I’d never even heard of him, much less seen him play, so I had no idea how good he was. I warmed up with him for a bit, and it was soon very clear to me that I was in trouble. Excellent form and consistency, bothsided, and with some big tricks. Even if I were warm, it’d be a challenge to beat this guy, and I wasn’t even close to warm at this point. I felt a touch of dread in my stomach, so I stepped out of the circle to get my mental game in order, and try and will my legs into game shape.
Once circle started, a crowd formed to watch. I think this helped me, since it motivated me to try harder, because I didn’t want to embarrass myself. The fact that I was the only freestyler from North America also motivated me to compete with pride. Before the first turn, Sergio asked me how I felt. “My legs feel really slow and heavy” I told him in Spanish. Rene’s first turn is strong, and scares me. I use it to push myself into a strong first turn. I pass to Alex, and hear Sergio mockingly echo: “my legs feel so slow and heavy!” It makes me laugh, but throughout the 6 turns I never fully relax, because Rene keeps me on my toes. He starts one turn with DSC to mobius…yipes. Thankfully, adrenaline finally kicks in, and I bang out a pretty solid performance, including one turn I started with mullet x2. When it’s all over I exchange high fives, and go sit down. I think I’ve won it, but even if I haven’t, at least I put up a fight and didn’t embarrass myself.
Shred 30: A-
I think Shred30 came right after. I hadn’t done a shred30 since Funtastiks a year ago, and I hadn’t planned a shred30 since like…2006? I wasn’t particularly concerned about my performance, but I made a point to do it, since it’d keep me warm for circle finals. My legs cooled off some after first round of Circle, and were feeling heavy again. I tried just to do as many unique 4s as I could, and keep my drops down. I think I dropped twice? Three times? I ended up scoring something like 189. Overall not terrible for me. I think I normally average in the mid 190s, so this wasn’t that far off. Watching live, Mikko’s and Aleksi’s look very close, though in the final tally Aleksi finished ahead by a good 30 points. I’m just glad I participated since it kept me warm, and kept me in competition mindset.
Circle Finals: A for effort, B+ for performance
Happily, I did make the cut for Circle Finals. Competing against me were Aleksi, Mikko, and Rafal Kaleta. At this point I was feeling pretty exhausted, and I really had to make an effort to will myself to try hard each turn. Maybe part of me exhaled too much, since at this point I had made finals and wasn’t going to be embarrassed by finishing last. I dunno. I had a few good turns, but I also had 2 or even maybe 3 turns where I didn’t hit anything. Normally I’m 5/6 for usable turns, so this was notably worse than average for me. The one turn that stood out for me, was after I saw Mikko start a run with atomic drifter, which got a good reaction from the crowd. When I was up next, I thought to myself: “I can hit atomic drifter, and I can probably link it to something. Worst case scenario I drop the second trick, and then do a conservative run.” So when I got the bag I dropped to my toe and hit atomic drifter-ps whirl to a run. Felt strategic. My only real regret in circle finals was my final turn, where I tried to start a run with bed-darkwalk-blurry whirl, but I dropped on the step set on the third trick. Since I dropped going for the third trick, I didn’t get a passback. This probably cost me the silver medal, but really I felt lucky to have even made it to finals.
Once Circle was over, I pretty much collapsed in a chair. I was so exhausted. That said, I also felt very proud that I had been able to push myself so hard, and keep my mental game sharp throughout. I’m not sure I could have done that even a couple years ago, but I’ve competed so much over the last couple years, it’s gotten easier for me. Or at least I feel I understand on some level what I need to do to perform in comp.
Food: A-
Entry fees from the players went to providing us food on Saturday, and fruit throughout the tourney. It was really nice to have free fruit on site. On Friday I explored the surrounding area with Mikko and Aleksi in search of food, and were underwhelmed with our options. We ended up at some middle eastern bar, where I had a subpar gyro sandwich. But the company was good. I barely knew Aleksi before this tournament, so I really enjoyed hanging out with him and getting to know him better. It was also enormously entertaining for me to watch him and Mikko freestyle rap in Finnish together. One would do a basic beatbox beat, and the other would freestyle. My favorite one was once when Mikko was laying down a beat, and Aleksi laid down 3 or 4 verses. I didn’t understand anything, but Mikko abruptly stopped beatboxing and began laughing really hard, at which point Aleksi did too. I asked what happened, and apparently Aleksi’s rap was so incredibly lame, it became funny. Another night, I tried to beatbox for Mikko so he could rap.
Ken: *beatboxing*
Mikko: Give me a slower beat.
Ken: *beatboxes something different*
Mikko: That’s the exact same beat!
Ken:
On Saturday, the organizers provided players with paella. It was actually really good too! I thought this was a very nice touch. A lot of times you go to a footbag tournament, spend all your time at the site, and don’t experience much of the local culture. Providing paella on site was a great way to remind people they are in Spain, and to show them part of the culture.
Friday night party: C
Coordination on this party was less than stellar. In the players booklet, the location given was something like this: “we will party on Main Street.” I forgot the actual name of the street, but it was a pretty big street. No specific bar or location was specified either, so Aleksi, Tuomas, Janna and myself just hung around waiting there for over an hour. My lack of sleep the night before, combined with the physical and mental exertion of the day’s events were all catching up with me. We finally decided to just hit a bar, have a beer, and write off the party. This proved to be a lot of fun, but I won’t go into detail, because I’m not sure the other three people in my party want me blogging about our thrillingly illegal handling of our bill. But it was super fun.
Next: Routines!
The first event of the day was Circle Comp. I was in the last pool, which was nice since it gave me more time to warm up. Since I was in the last pool, I agreed to judge the first two rounds. I judged with Kamil Wysocki and Steve Goldberg, and it was fun. The most entertaining pool had Rafal and Tuomas, and all three judges had them very close. Rafal ended up advancing from that pool. After spending most of the previous day and night in transit, it was a joy to sit down and watch footbag.
After I finished judging the second round, I got changed and started warming up. I don’t think I ever really got jet-lagged, but the fact that I spent the previous night only getting 4 on and off hours of sleep on an airplane, meant I wasn’t feeling all that spry. I was hoping adrenaline would kick in and help me, but as I started warming up, I got a little nervous. My legs just felt very heavy and unresponsive, and they didn’t seem to be getting any better as I warmed up. My pool in the first round was with Alex Trenner and Rene Ruhr. I knew Alex and his game, but Rene was an x-factor. I’d never even heard of him, much less seen him play, so I had no idea how good he was. I warmed up with him for a bit, and it was soon very clear to me that I was in trouble. Excellent form and consistency, bothsided, and with some big tricks. Even if I were warm, it’d be a challenge to beat this guy, and I wasn’t even close to warm at this point. I felt a touch of dread in my stomach, so I stepped out of the circle to get my mental game in order, and try and will my legs into game shape.
Once circle started, a crowd formed to watch. I think this helped me, since it motivated me to try harder, because I didn’t want to embarrass myself. The fact that I was the only freestyler from North America also motivated me to compete with pride. Before the first turn, Sergio asked me how I felt. “My legs feel really slow and heavy” I told him in Spanish. Rene’s first turn is strong, and scares me. I use it to push myself into a strong first turn. I pass to Alex, and hear Sergio mockingly echo: “my legs feel so slow and heavy!” It makes me laugh, but throughout the 6 turns I never fully relax, because Rene keeps me on my toes. He starts one turn with DSC to mobius…yipes. Thankfully, adrenaline finally kicks in, and I bang out a pretty solid performance, including one turn I started with mullet x2. When it’s all over I exchange high fives, and go sit down. I think I’ve won it, but even if I haven’t, at least I put up a fight and didn’t embarrass myself.
Shred 30: A-
I think Shred30 came right after. I hadn’t done a shred30 since Funtastiks a year ago, and I hadn’t planned a shred30 since like…2006? I wasn’t particularly concerned about my performance, but I made a point to do it, since it’d keep me warm for circle finals. My legs cooled off some after first round of Circle, and were feeling heavy again. I tried just to do as many unique 4s as I could, and keep my drops down. I think I dropped twice? Three times? I ended up scoring something like 189. Overall not terrible for me. I think I normally average in the mid 190s, so this wasn’t that far off. Watching live, Mikko’s and Aleksi’s look very close, though in the final tally Aleksi finished ahead by a good 30 points. I’m just glad I participated since it kept me warm, and kept me in competition mindset.
Circle Finals: A for effort, B+ for performance
Happily, I did make the cut for Circle Finals. Competing against me were Aleksi, Mikko, and Rafal Kaleta. At this point I was feeling pretty exhausted, and I really had to make an effort to will myself to try hard each turn. Maybe part of me exhaled too much, since at this point I had made finals and wasn’t going to be embarrassed by finishing last. I dunno. I had a few good turns, but I also had 2 or even maybe 3 turns where I didn’t hit anything. Normally I’m 5/6 for usable turns, so this was notably worse than average for me. The one turn that stood out for me, was after I saw Mikko start a run with atomic drifter, which got a good reaction from the crowd. When I was up next, I thought to myself: “I can hit atomic drifter, and I can probably link it to something. Worst case scenario I drop the second trick, and then do a conservative run.” So when I got the bag I dropped to my toe and hit atomic drifter-ps whirl to a run. Felt strategic. My only real regret in circle finals was my final turn, where I tried to start a run with bed-darkwalk-blurry whirl, but I dropped on the step set on the third trick. Since I dropped going for the third trick, I didn’t get a passback. This probably cost me the silver medal, but really I felt lucky to have even made it to finals.
Once Circle was over, I pretty much collapsed in a chair. I was so exhausted. That said, I also felt very proud that I had been able to push myself so hard, and keep my mental game sharp throughout. I’m not sure I could have done that even a couple years ago, but I’ve competed so much over the last couple years, it’s gotten easier for me. Or at least I feel I understand on some level what I need to do to perform in comp.
Food: A-
Entry fees from the players went to providing us food on Saturday, and fruit throughout the tourney. It was really nice to have free fruit on site. On Friday I explored the surrounding area with Mikko and Aleksi in search of food, and were underwhelmed with our options. We ended up at some middle eastern bar, where I had a subpar gyro sandwich. But the company was good. I barely knew Aleksi before this tournament, so I really enjoyed hanging out with him and getting to know him better. It was also enormously entertaining for me to watch him and Mikko freestyle rap in Finnish together. One would do a basic beatbox beat, and the other would freestyle. My favorite one was once when Mikko was laying down a beat, and Aleksi laid down 3 or 4 verses. I didn’t understand anything, but Mikko abruptly stopped beatboxing and began laughing really hard, at which point Aleksi did too. I asked what happened, and apparently Aleksi’s rap was so incredibly lame, it became funny.
Another night, I tried to beatbox for Mikko so he could rap.Ken: *beatboxing*
Mikko: Give me a slower beat.
Ken: *beatboxes something different*
Mikko: That’s the exact same beat!
Ken:
On Saturday, the organizers provided players with paella. It was actually really good too! I thought this was a very nice touch. A lot of times you go to a footbag tournament, spend all your time at the site, and don’t experience much of the local culture. Providing paella on site was a great way to remind people they are in Spain, and to show them part of the culture.
Friday night party: C
Coordination on this party was less than stellar. In the players booklet, the location given was something like this: “we will party on Main Street.” I forgot the actual name of the street, but it was a pretty big street. No specific bar or location was specified either, so Aleksi, Tuomas, Janna and myself just hung around waiting there for over an hour. My lack of sleep the night before, combined with the physical and mental exertion of the day’s events were all catching up with me. We finally decided to just hit a bar, have a beer, and write off the party. This proved to be a lot of fun, but I won’t go into detail, because I’m not sure the other three people in my party want me blogging about our thrillingly illegal handling of our bill. But it was super fun.
Next: Routines!
-
PoisonTaffy
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: 23 Jun 2007 15:42
- Location: Israel, center
- Contact:
